


wearing your heart like a crown

by paisana



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Firebending & Firebenders, Season/Series 03, Sokka lowkey crushing, Western Air Temple, but that's not reallllyy the focus, happy zuko, zuko feels nice things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 12:49:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11874831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paisana/pseuds/paisana
Summary: Zuko gives off soft heat depending on what he's feeling, almost like firebending from his skin. Sokka remembers noticing this after spending time around him while he was very happy.





	wearing your heart like a crown

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a lyric from the song that inspired the idea for this, [the Great Pretender](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywZmQ2rg7GQ) by the Platters.
> 
> It's a sad song but this is Expressly not a sad story!!

My cup of the tea he made is warm in my hand, and the fire Katara built for us is warm on my back, but Zuko sits beside me and it's not quite the same. He's telling a story from when he was younger, a happy memory from Ember Island I feel privileged to hear. He has many, and he ebbs and flows with them all, something inside him tied to the emotion of the story. Every time he laughs, and every time everyone else does, he feels distinctly warmer, a swell of heat like the joy is getting away from him. It feels like standing too close to a fire, but it's not dangerous in the same way, not imposing, but almost giddy.

He tells us months later about when he tried to learn to bend lightning, and I think of that day, what seems like ages earlier, even before Sozin’s Comet.

We hadn't even left the Western Air Temple one morning when I woke up just after dawn. In the courtyard under a pale blue sky, Zuko was showing Aang an advanced firebending form, even though Aang wasn't nearly ready to try it at that point. I watched him move his body through one pose after another, hurling flames into empty space. He would duck under whips of flame as they flew back to him, would move with the fire as though it were part of him, as though he were born for it. It looked almost reckless, feverish but purposeful, the sun blazing a glorious last breath before it sank under the yawning horizon. He turned to face where I was standing and we made eye contact for a beat. Smiling, and still holding my gaze, he shot a lick of flame just close enough to me that I could feel its heat. 

It was like he was swimming, or flying. 

Aang had told me by then about learning the essence of firebending from the Sun Warriors, how it was like holding a heartbeat in your hands. The feeling was hard for me to understand until then, looking at Zuko, and seeing him as a pulse, a breath, a blush; vital, vibrant life.

He finished the drill with a final burst over the edge of the temple, and Aang clapped for him enthusiastically. He turned around to face us laughing, reaching for his water skin and taking a drink.

“That was incredible!” said Aang, running up to him. “I mean that was just– wow, I don't know how I could _ever_ get that– that _good_!”

Zuko smiled, so gentle and so honest. “Of course you will, you think I would settle for anything less?”

We all laughed, and I walked closer to join them.

“What did you think?” Zuko asked me, almost serious.

I looked back at him for a moment, thinking. “It _was_ incredible,” I said. I hesitated, “It looks like you really enjoy that.”

He looked embarrassed, lifting his hand to scratch at the back of his head. “Yeah, I uh… I don't _like_ fighting, um… obviously. I mean, I don't ever want to be on that side of things again. But, I guess… Sparring like this… It's a kind of energy that's, uh, hard to find somewhere else. And, you know… I'm good at bending. I guess… yeah, I do like it.”

He lifted his eyes to me and I smiled back at him. After he explained it, it was easy enough to recognize. You could see how he relished the miracle of his own power, the energy flowing through him, the strength he maneuvered with such grace. He loved to firebend, and although he would never hold it over anyone's head, he loved that he was good at it.

“Well, alright.” I smiled wider. “How about we see what Aang can do, huh? Looks like he's having too easy a time, if you ask me.”

Aang groaned and threw his head back dramatically. “I can't follow that up!”

We laughed, but Aang wasn't wrong, and it was easy to know that. He had only been learning for about a week, and Zuko had practiced his whole life. It was natural to him the way airbending was natural for Aang, almost instinctual. Still, Zuko put a friendly hand on his shoulder, and smiled at him, honest. “Of course you can. You're more powerful than I think you know. You're learning so fast, and you're doing really well. Now let's see what you got, how about you show me the forms we practiced yesterday?”

Zuko and I sat down on the edge of the fountain, and Aang stepped out in front of us.

It took me by surprise how warm Zuko was next to me. He had a quiet smile stretched across his face as he watched Aang, still riding the high of his drills, and I realized that that warmth wasn't from exertion, but joy. It was soft, muted but still somehow radiant, the trembling air around a candle. Gently incandescent, the way I would soon learn was characteristic of him.

And so, I began to know Zuko from then on for the quietness of his smiles, for his patient and nurturing side, the earnestness behind everything he did, and the kind of energy he gave off when he was happy. It made you want to make him happy as much as you could, if only for the warmth of it.

After all, I got familiar with his warmth as well. The way he would emit what he was feeling from his skin. To this day I don't know if he does it on purpose, or if he knows he's doing it at all, but it's almost magnetic, being able to feel his emotions firsthand. It felt even then like something private, something you were lucky to know.

Of course I would get to know it.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm gay and i LOVE zuko
> 
> i also love comments and i love you guys for reading this
> 
> i might continue this and look at other emotions while developing their relationship more but we'll see if that happens!
> 
> if this makes no sense im sorry i swear i can explain just ask me!! love you guys again!!!


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